Welded plastic reflector units and the manufacture thereof



March 8, 1955 J. c. STIMSON 2,703,773-

WELDED PLASTIC REFLECTOR UNITS AND THE MANUFACTURE THEREOF Filed Feb. 27, 1947 I 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 8, 1955 J c, s'n so 2,703,773

WELDED PLASTIC REF TOR N TS AND THE MANUFACTU THE F Filed Feb. 27,1947 I5 Sheets-Sheet 2 v 42 44 FIG.3

I INIEEEQR.

United States Patent Oflice WELDED PLASTIC REFLECTOR UNITS AND THE MANUFACTURE THEREOF Jonathan C. Stimson, Evanston, 111.; Viola H. Stimson, executrix of said Jonathan C. Stimson, deceased, as- Signor to Elastic Stop Nut Corporation of Amerlca,

a corporation of New Jersey 1947, Serial No. 731,266

17 Claims. (Cl. 154-116) Application February 27,

quire complete protection against deposits of foreign matter of all kinds if their effectiveness is tained.

The invention is particularly adapted to and advantageous in the production of new and improved forms of plastic reflector units of the kind in which the reverse face of the reflecting member comprises a multiphcity of angularly related plane surfaces so arranged as to reflect back to its source a light beam impinging the reflector, and will therefore hereinafter be discussed and described by way of illustration but without limitation as applied to the production of such articles.

Reflectors of the kind under discussion, and particularly the kind disclosed in U. S. Patent'No. 2,022,639 and commonly known under the trade name Stimsonite, have gone into wide spread commercial use but in order for such articles to maintain their original reflecting efficiency it is necessary that the optical or reflecting surfaces be kept absolutely clean, and this moreover cannot be accomplished by a coating applied directly to the optical surfaces without seriously impairing the eflicacy of the reflector. As a consequence, reflector units of this kind have heretofore been made by attaching to the lens or face plate a backing plate of metal or other suitable material, the two plates providing a space or'cavity between them and being joined around the marginal edges of the plates. For the assembly to be effective the cavity between the plates must be and remain hermetically sealed and heretofore such sealing has usually been attempted by some form of mechanical pressure joint utilizing a sealing gasket interposed between the parts. This howto be mainever has proved to be unsatisfactory for the reason that the gasket mtaerials available sooner or later deteriorate to an extent causing the hermetic seal to be broken, or impair the effectiveness of the optical surfaces due to release of volatiles from the gasket material into the cavity between the members and subsequent condensation thereof on the surfaces under varying temperature conditions to which the unit may be subjected. In this connection it is to be noted that units of the kind under discussion are used most Widely in out-of-doors locations, as for example highway delineators and warning signals, on vehicles and the like, where they are subjected to widely varying conditions of atmospheric temperature, pressure and humidity which often result in a substantial pressure differential between the cavity within the unit and the ambient atmosphere. When there is coupled with the requirement for a pressure tight seal the further requirement that the seal remain effective over a period of years without leakage and without deteriora tion of a kind resulting in deposits within the cavity, it can easily be understood that gasket material capable of meeting the requirements has not been developed.

In the absence of satisfactory gasket material, the production of a permanent hermetic seal between the parts of a unit by welding has been suggested but heretofore no form ormethod of producing a satisfactory welded unit of the kind under consideration has been developed.

Patented Mar. 8, 1955 The primary reason for this is that the practical production of plastic pieces of the kind with which 'thlS invention is primarily concerned requires that they be formed by injection molding or equivalent operations involving heat and pressure, which operations produce articles having appreciable permanent internal strain which may be of substantial magnitude and which moreover is usually of a localized and unevenly distributed nature depending upon the shape of the article.

Welding operations as heretofore proposed are therefore unsuitable for sealing units comprising such pieces because of the distortion occasioned by release of internal strain resulting from the heat of the welding opera-. tion, which. has in effect an annealing effect on the welded material. a

The present invention has therefore as its primary object the production by a novel welding procedure of a new and improved form of welded plastic unit com prising parts fusion welded to provide a continuous and permanent hermetic seal between them so located and localized that appreciable distortion of the parts as a result of the welding operation is avoided. A more specific object of the invention is the production of units of the above described general character in which the welded parts comprise face and backing plates spaced to provide a cavity between them which is hermetically sealed by a localized peripherally continuous fusion weld between contacting marginal edge portions of the plates. A still more specific object is the production of such units in which. the face plate comprises a lens of reflecting or other nature having optical surfaces on the cavity side of the plate. Other and still more specific objects of the invention, the manner in which they are attained and the advantages to be derived from practice of the invention will be pointed out more in detail in themsuing portion of this specification, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which a practical example of structure embodying the invention and the production thereof is described by way of illustrative example.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a invention;

Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectionalview showing apparatus suitable for carrying the invention into effect;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view on larger scale taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3; and

Figs. 5 to 7 are fragmentary views on enlarged scale showing different stages of the operation of the apparatus shown in Fig. 3.

Referring now particularly to Figs. 1 and 2 there'is shown by way of example but without limitation a reflecting lens unit embodying the invention. The unit illustrated comprises a face or lens member indicated generally at 10 of thermoplastic material in the form of a circular convexly curved plate having on its reverse face a multiplicity of light reflecting surfaces 12 arranged in known'manner to reflect light impinging the member in the direction back to its source. The central portion provided with these surfaces, which may conveniently be termed the lens area of the member, is encircled by a depending marginal rim portion 14. A backing member or plate 16 is provided with a marginal channel 18 in which the rim 14 of the face member is received, the outer wall of this channel being defined by an upstanding marginal flange 20 encircling the outer surface of the rim 14. Advantageously the backing member is made entirely of thermoplastic material but insofar as the present invention is concerned the essential consideration is that the marginal portion including particularly the flange 20 be of such material. I

As will be observed from Fig. 2 the outer surface 22 of the rim 14 is slightly tapered and the flange 20 is shaped (in the manner hereinafter to be described) to engage this tapered surface to provide a seam 26 including a reentrant joint mechanically resisting separation of the parts. The face and backing plates are shaped to provide a cavity 24 behind the reflecting surfaces, and

lens unit embodying the the surfaces of the flange and rim adjacent to the ex- 1 3 4 posed edge of the seam 26. As will hereinafter be more lowed, and by way of example but without limitation fully described this weld indicated at 28 is localized and the followlng data are lndlcatlve of preferred procedure. in the embodiment illustrated is formed by displacement The Surface temperature for the tool Should eorfespohd as well as fusion of material which results in transversely closely to the p p temperature for a compresswn p extending furrows and ridges which are indicated at 30 5 mold used to mold an artlcle from the same powdered in Fig. 1. For convenience the e ridges nd furrows raw material. For articles of methyl-methacrylate tool Will hereinafter be referred to as corrugations, such term temperatures between haVe been found Sulthowever being used in its broader sense since the speable art1cles of polystyrene temperatures of cific shape and arrangement of the alternating projections h been e sueeessfully- The uhlt Pressure and indentations at the surface may vary within the requlred 1S eomparetlvely hghh Pressures of 190400 scope of the invention. pounds per square 1nch of surface in contact with the Figs. 3 to 7 inclusive are illustrative of the manner knurled portion of h tool are swtable, t even hshter in which the parts of the device are assembled and sealed pressures y e found to e adequate provlded the press in accordance with the invention. In Fig. 3, 32 indicates emPloyed P of suffielently accurate Pressure 9 the bed of a hydraulic or other known form of press H0 i a 10W pressure range The P Pehetfahon which carries a centering plate 34 for holding in centered 0f h 1001 3' Important l speeds Iahgmg from 0-175 position the backing plate 16 on which is laid the face n P Inlllute t0 0-250 1h eh P mlmlte have been or lens plate 10. employed successfully. It Wlll be understood that the The plunger of the press is indicated at 36 and has specific speed employed will depend upon the size of secured thereto by studs 38 the forming or closing tool h article belng Welded and the depth and SlZe 0f the Tool 40 has an annular wall 42 providing an inknurl. The time of contact of the tool with the material terhal annular working or forming face 44 which is of being Weld d Will als vary Wlth the e 0f aftlele helllg generally toric configuration. This surface is knurled Welded, spee f P r but 111 P e t"hes to provide a series of radially extending serrations or of from 7 to 4Q seconds have been found suffic enbto corrugations 46 which as will be seen from Figs. 3 and 4 produce the desired weld. For art1cles ranging in size terminate short of the lower edge of the surface '44. from a diameter of approximately 1 or 1 /2 inches up to The tool 40 is heated so as to function as a welding 7 or 8 inches, a tool knurled to provlde from 20 to 40 as well as a forming tool and in the apparatus shown corrugations or teeth per nch and havlng a depth of the tool is heated by conduction from the heated plunger tooth ranging from approximately one to two one hun- 36 which in turn may be heated in any desired fashion. dredths of an inch has been found satisfactory and opera- Advantageously as shown this member is heated by cirtions with such tools and with temperatures, pressures, culating steam through suitable heating channels 48. and speeds of operation within the range notedabove Alternatively electric resistance coils or other equivalent have resulted in substantially 100% perfect continuous heating means may be emplo ed. welds which are of the order of one one hundredth of Within the annular Wall 42 of the tool a cavity 50 is an inch deep and whlch follow along the contour of provided for the reception of a stripping member 52 the serrations. From this it will be seen that the weld yieldably carried by spring 54 suitably secured to the produced is very highly localized in its nature and because of the localized application of heat for a comparatively The action of the above described apparatus is shown short time and at moderate temperature, conduction of more in detail in Figs. 5 to 7, Fig. 5 showing the posiheat to parts of the structure even closely ad acent to the tion of the parts before the closing and welding operation weld is limited to a degree avoiding any annealing act1on takes place. As the heated forming tool descends the on such parts. leading edges 46a of the knurled portion of the working As previously noted any suitable known form of press apparatus may be employed which is capable of giving erally spaced places with the top surface 20a of flange a controlled stroke at predetermined speed. Since such 20, which surface as shown may advantageously be apparatus and means for controlling it are Well Q W slightly beveled, and the top surface 14a of the rim 14. it is not believed necessary that it be described herein in This initial contact produces lateral surface flow of the detail. Ordinarily however, since the actual closing opermaterial contacted by the hot tool and freedom for such ation is carried out at comparatively very slow plunger flow is provided by the radially extending channels in speed, it is desirable to provide in the usual known manthe corrugated or knurled surface of the tool. As the nor for a quick acting prelimmary Stroke and fil e tool continues downwardly a certain amount of the disacting return stroke for opening the press to permit 1nplaced material flows outwardly to form a small periphsertion and removal of the work pieces, couplcd wlth the era] flash indicated at 56 in Fig. 6, and due to the heating controlled slow final closing stroke. In some instances of the flange 20 and the lateral pressure exerted because it may be desirable to provide for a sllght period of dwell of the toric form of the tool the flange is bent toward at the end of the closing stroke after full penetratlon has the tapered face 22 of the rim 14 to form the reentrant been effected and if such dwell is provided in the cycle, mechanical joint between the parts. As the tool moves it is of relatively very short duration of the order of only to its final position shown in Fig. 7, the localized surface a few seconds. flow of the material from surfaces 14a and 20a fills the It will be noted from an inspection of Figs. 5 to 7 furrows of the corrugations in the tool and fuses together inclusive that the rim 14 provides a tapered outer surface to form the localized continuous weld 28. During the extending in a generally axial direction and a surface latter part of the closing operation, after the tool comes 14a extending laterally from the tapered surface. Flange into contact with surface 140, freedom of lateral flow of 20 provides an inner surface extending in a generally this surface is advantageous and for this reason it is desiraxial direction and opposed to the tapered surface and a able to provide a clearance space 58 between the inner surface 20a extending laterally from the axially extendwall 42a of the tool and the outer wall 10:: of the lens ing surface. In forming the seal between the members member 10. With such clearance provided a small 10 and 16 heat and pressure are applied to the surfaces amount of flash 60 may fiow radially inwardly from the 14a and 20a to fuse the exposed edges of the tapered furrows or grooves during the welding operation. surface and the axially extending surface on the flange As previously noted the difliculty heretofore encoun- 20, the resulting seal being illustrated in Fig. 7. This tered in attempting to weld articles of the kind under method of applying the heat and pressure is contrary to consideration has been due to distortion of the parts he the usually accepted practice in which the heat and prescause of the annealing effect of heat conducted from sure would be applied in such a manner as to bring the the Place where the Weld is effected. confronting surfaces to be sealed together, in which case In accordance with the procedure just described this pressure would be applied rad1ally of the members 10 is avoided by forming a continuous fusion seal or weld and 16 rather than axially thereof as in the instant invenbetween the parts which at the same time is highly tion. The result of applying the heat and pressure across localized and can be effected without application of heat the exposed edges of the seam is to provide a seal in of suificient intensity or long enough duration to cause so which the heat penetrates to a limited depth causing the conduction sufficient to result in annealing action on the material to flow and form a fusion weld, and consequently portions of the parts relatively close to the actual line distortion of the members 10 and 16 due to expansion of weld. and contraction is prevented, whereas if heat and pressure To accomplish the desired results, however, even with were applied over a relatively wide area the penetration of the heat would be such that distortion would result.

the described process certain procedures should be folw re While for purposes of explaining and illustrating the nature of the invention 1' have'shown but one'form: of welded unit, it will be apparent that the invention is applicable to a wide'vari'ety of different specific unitsineluding other forms of optical units, wherein the optical surfaces may be on the forward face of the backing member with the face plate or member acting merely as a protective shield for forming the sealed cavity or having optical surfaces in addition to optical surfaces on thebacking member. v

Consequently, the scope of the invention is to be understood as including all articles and methods and means for forming them embraced within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An article comprising a first member having a rim of thermoplastic material and a second member having a flange of thermoplastic material encircling said rim and engaging the outer perimeter of said rim to form a seam providing a reentrant joint for mechanically resisting separation of said members, the surface edge of the seam between said rim and said flange being fusion welded to provide a hermetic seal between said members and optic surfaces on the inner face of at least one of said members.

2. An article as set forth in claim 1, in which the weld is localized to the surface. edge portion of the seal.

3. An article comprising a face plate having a marginal portion providing a depending rim of thermoplastic material and a backing plate having a marginal portion providing a channel for receiving said rim, the outer wall said channel being formed by a flange of thermoplastic material, the outer surface of said rim and the inner surface of said flange providing reentrant engaging surfaces for holding the plates together and the top surface portions of said flange and said rim being fusion welded together to hermetically seal the seam formed between said engaging surface and optic surfaces on the inner face of least one of said members.

4. An article as set forth in claim 3, in which the fusion weld is localized to substantially the surface portion of the welded parts.

5. An article comprising two members having portions of thermoplastic material engaging to provide a perimetrally continuous seam between the members, the edge surface portions along the seam being formed into alternating projections portions being fusion welded together to the seam and optic surfaces on one of said members, said projections and indentations forming a series of closely; spaced teeth extending transversely of the seam and thelweld being substantially localizertlh in depth to the surface portion comprised by said tee 6. A plastic optic unit comprising two plates of thermoplastic material having engaging marginal portions providing a perimetrally continuous seam and forming a cavity between the plates, at least one of said plates having optic surfaces on the cavity side of the plate providing a lens area extending to a place closely adjacent to the engaging marginal portion of the plate, said marginal portions being fusion welded along the surface edge of the seam to hermetically seal the cavity and sai weld being localized substantially to the surface portion of the parts along the seam.

7. The method of hermetically sealing two members of thermoplastic material, one of which is provided with a perimetral rim having a tapered surface and the other of which is provided with a flange adjacent to said surface, which comprises applying heat and lateral pressure to the flange to bring it into engagement with said tapered surface to provide a reentrant joint for mechanically preventing separation of the parts and applying heat and pressure to the edge surfaces of the members defining between them the seam at spaced places along the line of the seam to fusion weld said surfaces along the surface edge portion of the seam.

8. In the manufacture of a unit of the kind having a face plate of thermoplastic material provided with an optic surface area and a perirnetral rim around and ad jacent to said area and a backing plate of thermoplastic material capable of being fused by heat wih the mater al of said area and having a rim adapted the rim of the face plate, the steps which include the rims of said plates together marginal seam between contiguous to engage placing to present a peripheral versely corrugated with edge surfaces of the plates extending laterally away from the seam,- and hermetically sealing said seam by simultaneously applying heat and pressure to said edge surfaces at closely spaced intervals along said seam to create flow of the material at said surfaces to seal the seam.

9. A method as set forth in claim 8 in which the heat and pressure is initially applied to said surfaces along lines extending transversely of the seam.

, 10. A method as set forth in claim 8, in which the heat and pressure is applied by means of a hot tool transrespect to the line of the seam, said tool being moved relatively slowly against said surfaces, whereby to obtain an initial flow of the surface material at the lines of the crests of the corrugations and a subsequent flow of the material lengthwise of the seam into the hollows of the corrugations upon further movement of the tool to thereby seal the seam along its entire length by fused material.

11. The method as set forth in claim 10 in which excess surface material is permitted to flow lengthwise of said corrugations beyond the boundary of at least one of said edge surfaces.

12. The method of hermetically sealing together two bodies of thermoplastic material having two confronting surfaces providing between them a seam and adjacent faces extending laterally away from the exposed edge of said seam, which includes the step of applying heat and pressure to said faces at spaced places along said edge of the seam to create surface flow and fusion of the material of said faces to seal the exposed edge portion of the seam.

13. The method of hermetically sealing together two bodies of thermoplastic material having two confronting surfaces providing between them a seam and adjacent laterally away from the exposed edge of saidfseam, which includes the step of applying heat and pressure in the general direction of said confronting surfaces to said faces at spaced places along the exposed edge of'the seam to create surface flow and fusion of the material at said faces to seal the exposed edge of the seam.

14. The method of hermetically sealing together two bodies of thermoplastic material having two confronting surfaces providing between and adjacent faces extending laterally away from the exposed edge of said seam, which includes pressure in the general direction of said confronting surfaces to said faces at spaced places along the exposed edge of the seam to create surface flow and fusion of the material at said faces to seal the exposed edge of the seam, and limiting the duration of application of said heat and pressure to limit the fusion of the material to the Zone immediately adjacent to said faces.

15. The method of hermetically sealing together two bodies of thermoplastic material having two confronting surfaces providing between them a seam and adjacent faces extending laterally away from the exposed edge of said seam, which includes the step of applying heat and pressure in the general direction of said confronting surfaces to said faces along spaced lines extending transversely across the exposed edge ofthe seam to create surface flow and fusion of the material at said faces to seal the exposed edge of the seam.

16. The method of hermetically sealing together two bodies of thermoplastic material having two confronting surfaces providing between them a seam and adjacent faces extending laterally away from the exposed edge of said seam, which includes the step of applying heat and pressure in the general direction of said confronting surfaces to said faces at spaced places along the exposed edge of the seam to create surface flow of the material at said of the seam in the spaces between the exposed edge of 17. The method of hermetically bodies of thermoplastic material having two confronting surfaces providing between them a seam and adjacent faces extending laterally away from the exposed edge of said seam, which includes the steps of applying heat and pressure to said faces in the general direction of said confronting surfaces at spaced places along the exposed edge of the seam to form said faces by fusion into a continuous corrugated surface portion having corrugations extending transversely across the line of the seam and sealing the exposed edge portion thereof, and limiting the application of said heat and pressure to confine the fusion between the parts substantially to the depth of the corrugated surface portion thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS Higbie June 24, 1930 Pereles Sept. 10, 1940 Reinhardt Nov. 5, 1940 10 Haggart, Jr. June 9, 1942 Young July 14, 1942 Johnston June 22, 1943 Patton Dec. 21, 1943 Luhrs Nov. 23, 1943 Corley Feb. 1, 1944 Nedell Feb. 8, 1944 Spieth Jan. 9, 1945 Steifens July 3, 1945 Slaughter Nov. 6, 1945 Steffens Nov. 20, 1945 Moore Dec. 11, 1945 Luce May 27, 1947 Oestricher Aug. 12, 1947 

1. AN ARTICLE COMPRISING A FIRST MEMBER HAVING A RIM OF THERMOPLASTIC MATERIAL AND A SECOND MEMBER HAVING A FLANGE OF THERMOPLASTIC MATERIAL ENCIRCLING SAID RIM AND ENGAGING THE OUTER PERIMETER OF SAID RIM TO FORM A SEAM PROVIDING A REENTRANT JOINT FOR MECHANICALLY RESISTING SEPARATION OF SAID MEMBERS, THE SURFACE EDGE OF THE SEAM BETWEEN SAID RIM AND SAID FLANGE BEING FUSION WELDED TO PROVIDE A HERMETIC SEAL BETWEEN SAID MEMBERS AND OPTIC SURFACES ON THE INNER FACE OF AT LEAST ONE OF SAID MEMBERS.
 12. THE METHOD OF HERMETICALLY SEALING TOGETHER TWO BODIES OF THERMOPLASTIC MATERIAL HAVING TWO CONFRONTING SURFACES PROVIDING BETWEEN THEM A SEAM AND ADJACENT FACES EXTENDING LATERALLY AWAY FROM THE EXPOSED EDGE OF SAID SEAM, WHICH INCLUDES THE STEP OF APPLYING HEAT AND PRESSURE TO SAID FACES AT SPACED PLACES ALONG SAID EDGE OF THE SEAM TO CREATE SURFACE FLOW AND FUSION OF MATERIAL OF SAID FACES TO SEAL THE EXPOSED EDGE PORTION OF THE SEAM. 